Netball: Inner-Island School Jamboree |18 October 2023

Great turn-out and request for more similar events

As part of its programme to re-ignite netball, bringing it back to competitive level, by targeting new generations of players, the sport’s local governing body, the Seychelles Netball Association, on Saturday hosted an inner-island school jamboree on Praslin, gathering young girls from the host island and La Digue, producing a good turn-out, according to the organisers.

Other than promoting netball, the jamboree, held at the Baie Ste Anne Court, and featuring teams from the Praslin and La Digue secondary schools, Grand Anse Praslin primary school, as well as the Vijay International School, the event was also to prepare the girls for next year’s inner-island secondary schools’ netball league.

Speaking about the jamboree, chairman of the Seychelles Netball Association (SNA), Dorothy Isidore, said the turn-out on Saturday was very good, while the young players were very focused on the drills and the small tournament that followed.

“The children showed great interest during the sessions and captured the fundamentals of the sport really well,” said Ms Isidore, adding that mentors from the SNA, namely Militna Marie, Marie-Claire Chetty, Sheila Boniface and Cecile Duval instructed the young girls on the techniques, game plays, while engaging them into some drills.

“The mentors shared their knowledge of the game with the young girls, but it was also obvious that some of the schools, precisely Praslin, and the Vijay International School already have the basics and concept of the game, while La Digue had less knowledge of netball,” added Ms Isidore.

She said they need to boost their effort towards La Digue as netball is not being practiced there since the children are more interested in other sports such as football and athletics.

After the morning sessions schools were drawn against each other in a friendly competition to showcase what they have learned.

“We gave the schools team jersey to play in and the Baie Ste Anne team A came out victorious followed by their team B, with La Digue third and the Vijay International School third.

Physical Education at the Praslin secondary school, Sony Athanase, said the jamboree was a good opportunity for the children and just like other popular sports, netball must also get more attention at school level.

“For us to be sure that we are offering children different choices, we definitely need to have alternatives to football, basketball and athletics in schools where students can have a wider range of choices,” said Mr Athanase.

He added that the children were happy to take part in, and enjoyed the jamboree.

“In our school we have many students who are active in athletics, volleyball and others and I chose a group of students who is not affiliated to any sport and they saw that as an opportunity and a plus for them,” said Mr Athanase.

He added that greater emphasis and importance should be placed on physical education in the schools. “I have been in physical education for 22 years and in my view I can see that the subject is losing its grasps of significance. We are speaking of high level athletes, without realising that all of that begins in the school and if physical education is not taken seriously, our sport would not reach far,” further noted Mr Athanase, who also added that for our sports to improve, they should begin at the base which is physical education in schools.

He appealed to other Physical Education teachers to diversify their activities.

“Everyone knows that I am affiliated to volleyball but, I cannot stick only to volleyball in the school. There are schools where children are just given balls to play around, but here on Praslin we do things differently, and the physical education programme is working properly. This is why you see the inner islands do well in sports and with the CJSOI Games closing in, we have to elevate the development in the schools or we will see our level dropping further,” concluded Mr Athanase.

Jourdan Victor, who attended the jamboree with the La Digue team, said the event was a good initiative to influence students into another sport which are not popular on the island.

“From the group of girls who took part, a majority are interested in netball as they never knew about the sport and its fundamentals. They have shown interests to continue with netball,” said Mr Victor.

He added that he has asked the SNA to host a similar event on La Digue as he feels they will receive a larger number of participants from the island, since it was difficult to commute a large group from La Digue.

“We went with only fourteen girls, while many others are asking for a similar activity on La Digue,” added Mr Victor.

He said they will be drawing more attention to the sport in the school and they have a pool of players who is ready to participate in the upcoming netball competition next year.

“We will obviously need support in terms of educating our instructors to train the children,” said Mr Victor, who also commended the SNA for the initiative, while urging other federations to provide the same opportunity to the children.

Neil Sirame